50 Porch Ideas for Every House Style

Pillows pick up the soft grey tones of this home's exterior. Daniel Garber

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Porches for All Seasons

Does the word porch make you think of a summer evening, sitting in a comfortable chair and watching the world go by as you sip a tall, cool beverage? While houses have become more oriented to the back rather than front yard, porches have never completely gone out of style. Like any outdoor room, a porch is a continuation of one's living space, whether it's extended in front as a welcoming refuge, in the back as a screened-in or covered way to experience the outdoors, or wrapping around the house, for an easy outdoor escape from any door.

If designing a new porch, consult an architect and licensed contractor to ensure it is designed correctly. Unlike a patio or deck, a porch is an appendage of extension of a house, and an architect knows her or his way through the design and structural issues that will be encountered.

Types of Porches

It's not a patio or a deck—it's a porch. Know what type it is before building, designing, or decorating:

Open porch: this is the type most often associated with front porches, often with wide steps leading to the porch

Wraparound: Often seen on older homes, these porches start at the entry and literally wrap around at least one corner and side of the house; sometimes two.

Screened porch: Popular in regions with four seasons and lots of insects (like mosquitoes) in the summer, these porches give you that fresh-air experience, even in the rain.

Covered porch: A variation on the screened-in style, these porches are often like sunrooms, with lots of windows that open to let in fresh a

Ready to find the porch of your dreams? Take a tour of some beautiful types and designs.

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White Traditional Style Porch

Manolo Langis

Evens Architects' beach house design in Santa Monica, California, gets a fresh coat of white paint on the walls, posts, ceiling, flooring—just about everywhere, for a casual coastal escape.

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St. Paul Porch

Troy Thies

Architect Jeremiah Battles of Acacia Architects designed a new old-style home in St. Paul, Minneapolis, with modernized vintage touches, like a Tudor fireplace surround and beveled glass windows and doors. It's also designed to accommodate the owner's mobility needs, and includes an elevator with quarter-sawn oak paneling. The porch has access to an upper-story deck and that sliding snackbar-style window allows easy pass-through of whatever is cooking from the kitchen.

Porch Plants

Lisa Hallett Taylor

The porch steps of an old-fashioned home in Orange County, California, are softened and adorned on each level and at each side with pots of flowers in purples, whites, and blues. Plants in a high-profile area like a porch should be watered often and well maintained to improve your home's curb appeal.

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Farmhouse in the Berkshires

Kevin Sprague

A 215-year-old house restored by Kristine Sprague in Massachusetts' Berkshire Mountains features a low front porch with posts and a wood floor. The front entry is oriented to the side of the road, looking toward a green field—an unusual orientation that indicates the road probably came after the house was built.

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Southwestern Porch

Whit Preston

There's an LBJ connection with this Austin front porch. No, President Lyndon B. Johnson didn't sit for a spell and chew the fat with his cronies after retirement from the White House. But that travertine is from the nearby LBJ Library after it underwent a remodel. Columns and beams are made of Douglas fir, and custom steel brackets support painted rafters and a blue tongue-and-groove wood porch roof.

Coastal Queen Anne

Jim Bartsch

A Queen Anne-style house in the charming coastal city of Santa Barbara was built in the 1910s—which is considered old by Southern California standards. With the help of an architectural historian, Thompson Naylor Architects updated and refurbished the house carefully to maintain its historical character and integrity. The only noticeable exterior changes are two dormers and a new attached garage in a sympathetic style. The porch's more ornamental details are painted in blue.

Farmhouse Porch

Brian Vanden Brink

Architect John Cole's clients, a busy professional couple, requested a serene vacation home overlooking Pleasant Lake in Maine. Cole came up with an all-new old-barn look, with a flared gambrel roof, cupola, and reclaimed oak posts and beams. An enclosed porch with using a railing with "windows" and a roof for a protected outdoor experience.

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Purple Porch

Small saucers are repurposed to display this home's address. nola.agent/Flickr/CC-2.0

New Orleans' Algiers Point includes neat Victorian cottages and porches decorated with, well, whatever the owner pleases. And why not? This one has fresh paint and trim, wooden shutters, and clever touches like saucers that bear the address displayed on a porch post. Fleur de lis, wreaths, and potted plants add to its appeal.

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Old Virginia Porch

Connie Ma/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

A blue house in Virginia is made more inviting by that refurbished vintage high-backed white chair and settee and coordinating cushions. New just wouldn't do.

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Relaxed in Beverly Hills

Laura Hull Photography

A family's long, frustrating search for the perfect new home ended up with them staying put in their 1960s-built house. The house was torn down and in its place, Tim Barber Ltd Architecture and D.C. Williamson General Contracting gave them their dream home: a shingle-style home with a porch, terrace, custom millwork, leaded glass doors, and many other custom features. The porch features wood flooring and ashlar. Landscape design was provided by Wade Graham Landscape Studio, LLC.

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Key Largo

Michael Wolk Design

A covered lanai-style side porch offers views usually reserved for once-in-a-lifetime vacations. Imagine enjoying Mai Tais while taking in a changing sunset and silhouettes of palm trees every day, like the owner of this beautiful home designed by Michael Wolk Design Associates Since it is "screened-in", high-end modern furniture like the Saarinen dining set and Aalto bentwood chair are safe from the elements.

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Snapper Creek

Michael Wolk

Another project from Michael Wolk Design Associates, this modern single-family home in Miami is sophisticated but comfortable, as evidenced by this upper-story porch-terrace that's a private place to lounge in the sun, enjoy a view of treetops, and soft breezes. Outdoor furniture is urban modern with a concrete coffee table.

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Midcentury Modern

Lisa Hallett Taylor

A two-story Midcentury modern house designed by architect George Bissell in the early 1960s features a second-floor porch or balcony that spans the entire length of the house and extends the living space. The porch of the Laguna Beach area home is accessed via sliding-glass doors.

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Traditional in Chicago

Michael Lipman Photography

This traditional Chicago-area home from Siena Custom Builders features a gable entry, flat roof, half columns, and stone pedestals or bases.

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Ohio Screened Porch

Marshall Evan

The owners of this home in Clintonville, Ohio, desired a traditional screened porch that fit the architectural scale and detail of their home. The remodel, by The Cleary Company, took two months, during which the old brick porch, pergola, and stairs were removed. In its place: a fun porch with eclectic details that reflect the homeowners' artistic style, constructed of composite materials for decking, trim, and railings for easy maintenance and built to last. The project developer was Robert Raskin and project designer wasCathryn Brassfield.

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Sausalito Houseboat

Suzanna Scott Photography

A two-story houseboat in the enviable town of Sausalito, just north of San Francisco, is decorated in coastal whites with touches of blue. Nest Design Co. carried out that fresh seaside charm to the porch, with light-blue walls, white trim, a Scandinavian-style dining set, and square planters filled with unfussy succulents.

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Colorado Horse Ranch

Todd Remington

A new equestrian estate in Colorado includes a home, barn, guest house, swimming pool, stables, and extensive grounds. Designed by Todd Remington, it's elegant but retains a rural charm, including this beautiful porch with big, comfy chairs in a soft, pastel palette.

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Hurricane Rebirth

Stephen Buchanan

Located on the West River in Annapolis, Maryland, this home was rebuilt by Nugent Design Build after the original structure was destroyed by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The homeowners had lived in the house since 1953 and wanted to keep the timeless, old-home feel of their original home. Purple Cherry Architects gave them an updated version, which includes this circular porch that offers breathtaking views of the river.

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Rear Wraparound

Harth

"The overall goal of any “addition” to a home is to make it appear as if it has always been there, even if it’s on the back of the home," says designer Katie Petruzzo of Harth Builders. All-new trim, roof shingles, and other features were matched with the existing home. Decking is TimberTech, which should be easier to maintain and last longer than real wood in the Pennsylvania climate. "Our clients wanted to enjoy their new covered porch as much as possible during the warmer months, which is why we installed a ceiling fan," says Petruzzo. "Exterior ceiling fans are great for keeping the pesky bugs away. We also designed stairs on either side of the cabana for easy access to any part of the yard. This is now a great outdoor space for entertaining family and friends"

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Row House Porch

James C. Schell

The owners of this Philadelphia row house updated by JC Schell did their research and selected a Victorian color scheme that is true to the period and fits in well with the neighborhood.

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Covered in Style

Bert Flexer

Located on Georgia's St. Simons Island, a home with a covered porch designed by Bert Flexer of Georgia Coast Construction allows an indoor/outdoor experience with a high gable roof and fresh coastal breezes.

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Communal Porch

Warren Jagger

The Kyle House, built by Kendall & Welch, is actually a group of four small cottages connected together via a long boardwalk in the resort town of Cape Cod. Everything is about life on the boardwalk, dunes, and the beaches, so this communal porch is an ice breaker for vacationers and summer residents who can get to know one another over barbecues, bonfires, or morning coffee.

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Semi-Wraparound

Lewes Building Co.

The small state of Delaware might not seem like beach country, but it's possible to own a nice custom-built coastal home in a charming small town for a lower cost than its Eastern neighbors. This expansive home by The Lewes Building Co. features a wraparound porch with columns, arches, and plenty of room to sit and enjoy the view.

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Traditional Shingle Style

Jessica Tanzer for Daniel Garber

While the homeowners desired a new home, they wanted it to look like it was built during the same period as the older Palo Alto homes in California's Silicon Valley. Fergus Garber Young Architects designed a shingle-style home in which a portion of the second story roof extends down to create a large front porch, which is a prominent feature of shingle-style architecture. The hanging lanterns are by Cape Cod and Cabot solid stain in Mountain Brush was used on the wood shingles and teardrop horizontal siding.

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Rhode Island View

Nat Rea for Digs Design

Rhode Island has more than 400 miles of coastline, and this beautiful wraparound porch offers views of sailboats, marinas, and islands. Digs Design Company decorated in whites and blues to reflect the sand and ocean.

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Bungalow Heaven

Historical Concepts

Located in a historic Atlanta neighborhood, this 1910 bungalow has been completely restored. Historical Concepts reconfigured the original floorplan to make the most of the home’s 1,200 square feet, updating the home for modern living while remaining true to its historic architectural character. Crown molding was custom milled to match the original woodwork and ladder doors were salvaged from nearby houses of the same era. Once dark and dated, the restored home has an air of authenticity, incorporating the best of what is new while reclaiming and enhancing the charm of the past. The front door is original—fresh paint lightens it up and makes the porch an inviting outdoor space.

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Gingerbread

Sunrise Building

The porch of this spectacular 1865-built home in Mt. Kisco, New York, was restored by Sunrise Building & Remodeling, Inc. to bring it back to its former glory. The style is gingerbread, which is often used interchangeably with Victorian or to describe an extremely detailed type of Victorian that features swags, perforations, brackets, and teardrops that give a building a highly ornamental look.

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Modern Craftsman

Kevin Meechan

Nestled at 4,300 feet in North Carolina's Smoky Mountains, this custom-designed Craftsman from ACM Design is built with dark gray shingles, stained heavy timbers, and stone. The modern rustic covered porch offers spectacular views of the mountains and surrounding Waynesville.

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Patriotic Porch

Allie_Caulfield/Flickr/CC by 2.0

A house in Cape May, New Jersey, gets decked out for every patriotic holiday with freshly painted trim, red exterior, and the U.S. flag.

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Vancouver House

Jeff Hitchcock/Flickr/CC by 2.0

This house near Vancouver, British Columbia, is a popular filming location and has been seen in the television series Millenium and The X-Files. Note the rounded wraparound porch and roofline, which also echoes the curve of the porch and is an unusual feature for both a roof.

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Maryland Porch

Anne Gummerson

A low-level flagstone front porch designed by Laura Thomas Studio in Baltimore, Maryland, features columns that support subtle arches on the sides and front of the house.

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Ranch Renovation

Gannon

The goals of Small Carpenters at Large in renovating this 1950s ranch-style house were to enlarge and update the kitchen, add more bedroom and bath space, design a more comfortable living space on the first floor, and change the character of the home both inside and out. In designing the second story, and adding a covered front porch and screened back porch, the home's roofline changed drastically, and the horizontal orientation of the ranch was completely changed. Now the home has style and character that the homeowner feels it was once lacked, while giving them more of what they wanted in a home without having to relocate.

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Lake Minnetonka

bullisphotography.com

Minnesota is known for its thousands of lakes, and Design Innovations' long porch that overlooks Lake Minnetonka is a stylish and casual space for relaxing, stargazing, and spending outside even with the mosquitoes are out, thanks to the pull-down screens.

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Historical Vancouver

Shaughnessy

The neighborhood of Shaughnessy, in Vancouver, B.C., consists of many large historical homes, including this Craftsman. Renovated by Feature Project Limited and architect Loy Leyland, the home is painted in purples with off-white trim and features a wraparound covered porch supported by tapered columns.

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Hanging Swing

Hammer Architects

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Hammer Architects designed this covered or screened-in porch that places the homeowners outdoors without enduring sudden rainstorms or insects during the summer.

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Toronto Porch

Nestplan

Half-columns are supported by pedestals on this front porch designed by Nestplan in Toronto, Canada. A purple front door livens up the look and serves as a focal point.

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Georgia Porch

Renewal Design Build

Renewal Design Build created an old-fashioned sunroom-style porch that is a cozy place to gather any time of year to enjoy the view of neighboring homes or watch the leaves change.

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Victorian by the Bay

Stokkers & Co.

A custom designed Victorian style home designed by architect James Keller and built by Stokkers & Co. offers views of New York's Huntington Bay and the Long Island Sound. The home's exterior features a multi-gabled roof and a large tower positioned above an expansive porch that wraps around most of the house. Akke Woodwork created the intricate details.

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Georgia Peach

JSPhotofx.com

Ideally, a front porch should accommodate several people, like this outdoor room from Georgia Front Porch. Seating space is important, as is having enough space to comfortably walk around the furnishings and each other. A smart guideline for a porch is to have a minimum depth of 6 feet, though 8 to 10 is preferred and double the swing of a 36-inch-wide entry door.

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Kiawah Island

Holger Obenaus

The South Carolina island of Kiawah—a barrier island—is the ideal spot for this house designed by Cumulus, which features a curving wraparound porch that allows views of the surrounding forest and beaches.

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Historic Renovation

Anthony Ford Photography

Historic Alston Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas, is a feast for fans of vintage architecture, including this gorgeous front porch and home from Mission Accomplished Design that is basically a complete outdoor living room.

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Carolina Jessamine Cottage

Richard Leo Johnson

A screened-in porch designed by Atlantic Archives looks like an updated version of your grandparents' home, with the addition of festive, year-round string lights.

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Mod Porch

Peter Murdock

Billinkoff Architects' luxurious enclosed back porch features large wood-framed windows and modern furnishings.

Long Island Victorian

A symbol of survival, this 1895 Queen Anne Victorian features a detailed front porch that was restored by Ashbourne Designs in 2005 and again in 2011, when it was destroyed by a fallen tree.

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Minnesota Mid-century

CityDeskStudio

In a neighborhood of century-old homes, CityDeskStudio rejuvenated this Midcentury modern porch in St. Paul, Minnesota, with fuchsia privacy fabric that acts as a vibrant "fence" or barrier and a colorful swing. Those hanging globe lamps are a classic Midcentury design.